Best Practices: Recruiting Students With Disabilities

How can your organization better connect with, recruit, and develop an inclusive culture for students with disabilities? Use these tips to help with your efforts:

Include candidates with disabilities as part of your overall diversity recruiting strategy. Many employers focus solely on gender and ethnic diversity when developing diversity-related recruiting goals; however, employees with disabilities can play an important and extremely beneficial role in broadening the diversity within your company.

Make sure your recruiting, hiring, and accommodation policies and processes are disability-friendly. Little things like providing application materials in alternative formats (for example, in large type or in Braille) and making sure the company’s website is accessible can go a long way in making candidates with disabilities feel welcomed.

Create an employee resource group and/or a mentoring program for employees with disabilities.

Create a centralized accommodation budget.

Provide training on the benefits of hiring employees with disabilities to managers and all team members so they feel comfortable working with colleagues with disabilities.

Collaborate with representatives in campus career services and/or disability services offices to establish connections with this population.

Request assistance in communicating to students (through e-mail, campus websites, and social media) that your organization is disability friendly and has job opportunities available.

Participate in employment programs targeted to job seekers with disabilities such as Emerging Leaders, EntryPoint!, and the Workforce Recruitment Program, and post job opportunities on databases targeted to job seekers with disabilities, like the Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD) Career Gateway, GettingHired, and the National Business & Disability Council.

Join professional associations that focus on disability-related employment issues and can provide connections to candidates with disabilities such as COSD and the U.S. Business Leadership Network.